Rocks in the Nile Valley , in Nubia. 141 



de leur surface, mais lorqu'elles sont abaissees elle les surpasse de 

 huit metres." It was formerly surrounded by a quay of masonry, 

 portions of which may be traced at intervals, and in some places 

 they are still in good preservation. The south-west part of the 

 island is occupied by temples. According to Wilkinson, the prin- 

 cipal building is a temple of Isis commenced by Ptolemy Philadel- 

 phus, who reigned from 283 to 247 years before Christ ; and he adds, 

 that it is evident an ancient building formerly stood on the site of 

 the present great temple. Lancrot, in referring to this more an- 

 cient building, says : — ' II y a des preuves certaines d'une antiquite 

 bien plus reculee encore, puisque des pierres qui entrent dans la con- 

 struction de ce meme grand temple, sont des debris de quelque con- 

 struction anterieure.'' RosseUini considers that it was built by Necta- 

 nabis. The first king of Egypt, of the Sebennite dynasty of that 

 name, ascended the throne 374 years B.C., the second and last ceased 

 to reign about 350 years B.C.* 



Rossellinif informs us, that on the island of Bageh, opposite to 

 Philaj, there are the remains of a temple of the time of Ameno- 

 phis II., and a sitting statue of granite representing him. He was 

 a king in the earlier years of the 18th dynasty, which, according to 

 the Chevalier Bunsen,J began in the year 1638, and ended in 1410 



B.C. 



Gau,§ in describing a temple at Debu, about 12 miles above 

 Philse, which he visited in January, and consequently during the time 

 of low water, states that he discovered under the sand, at the edge of 

 the river, the remains of a terrace leading towards a temple. 



A short distance north of Kalabsche, about 30 miles above Philse, 

 at Beil-nalli, RosseUini || speaks of a small temple in the following 

 terms : — ** Among the many memorials that still exist of Ramses II., 

 the most important, in a historical point of view, is a small temple or 

 grotto excavated in the rock;" and Wilkinson mentions it ** as a 

 small but interesting temple excavated in the rock, of the time of 

 Rameses II., whom Champellion supposes to be the father of Sesos- 

 tris or Rameses the Great."^ He was the first king of the 19th 

 dynasty, which began in the year 1409 B.C.** 



Gaufj" thus describes a monument at Gerbe Dandour : — "La 

 chaine de montagnes qui horde le Nil est, dans cet endroit, si ap- 

 prochoe du lit de ce fleuve, qu"'il no reste que tres peu d'espace sur 

 la rive. Cet espace est presque entierement occupe par le monument. 



* Russegger, Reison, Bd. ii. 300 and 320. Lancrot, Description de I'Egypte, 

 Memoire sur Tile de PhiL«, 15-68. RosseUini, I Monumenti dell' Egitto c della 

 Nubia. MoTiumenti del Culto, 187. Wilkinson's Thebes and General View of 

 Egypt, 406. Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biogi-aphy , A rts. Ptolemy, 

 Ph. and Nc;ctanabis. 



t P. 187. X Egyptens Stelle in der Weltgeschichte.— Drittes Buch, 122. 



§ Antiquites de la Nubie, p. 6. H Tome III., Parte II., p. 6. 



% Thebes, &c., p. 482. ** Buneen, as above. tt P- 9- 



